Ballots, The Courts And Genes

2000 Year in Review: In the nation

December 31, 2000

THE ELECTION THAT SEEMED NEVER TO END: After more than a month of recounts, lawsuits and heated rhetoric, Texas Gov. George W. Bush is declared president-elect in what was the closest national election in 120 years. Bush carried 271 electoral votes, just one more than the minimum needed for victory. He also became the first candidate since 1888 to win the White Hose while receiving fewer popular votes than a competitor, in this case, Vice President Al Gore. The race came down to Florida's 25 electoral votes, which were not decided until Dec. 12, when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled a Florida Supreme Court decision that had ordered a hand recount of ballots, which followed two other recounts. The nation's high court said the Florida court's recount plan was unconstitutional because it denied all Floridians the same voting-rights protections and, because the deadline for selecting the state's electors was at hand, there was not enough time to order a recount that met such guidelines.

SPLIT CONGRESS: The closeness of the presidential election was symbolic of the rest of the national voting. Although the Republicans kept control of the U.S. House of Representatives, their margin was a paltry 10 votes, and the U.S. Senate was deadlocked 50-50 between the two major political parties. Because Vice President-elect Richard Cheney gets to cast tie-breaking votes, the Grand Old Party has the narrowest of margins in that body.

HILLARY'S TRIUMPH: Although President Bill Clinton was to leave office early in 2001, Hillary Rodham Clinton makes history, jumping from first lady to United States senator in a highly divisive, bitterly fought but ultimately not very close election. She was elected from New York, a state in which she never lived until buying a home to establish legal residence in order to enter the race.

ABORTION PILL: After more than a decade of legal wrangling, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approves use in the United States of RU-486. The pill, which had been available in Europe for some time, produces abortions during the early months of pregnancy without requiring surgery.

GENOME SEQUENCED: The mapping of the human genome -- the genetic road map of the human body -- is finished by scientists. The work, completed by two competing groups, eventually could yield important scientific breakthroughs in medicine. Scientists believe that the genetic map will allow them to devise precise treatments for dozens of diseases and that those eventually could increase the human life span.

SCIENTIST FREED: Wen Ho Lee, a scientist at the federal government's nuclear laboratory at Los Alamos, N.M., is freed after ninemonths of being held without bail on espionage charges. Lee had been accused by the government of giving nuclear secrets to the Chinese. However, amid charges that he had been the subject of a government witch hunt, a federal judge freed him after he agreed to plead guilty to the relatively minor charge of mishandling classified information and after cooperating with investigators.

TIRE TRAVEL: Firestone launches a massive recall of its products after more than 100 people are killed in accidents in which it is alleged that tread separation was the cause. The giant tire maker recalls millions of tires and faces many lawsuits resulting from the controversy.

TOBACCO VERDICT: A jury in Miami-Dade County awarded a $145 billion verdict against tobacco companies in a class-action lawsuit. The verdict, which was appealed, was by far the largest award of monetary damages by a court in U.S. history.

IN PUERTO RICO: The island commonwealth elects its first woman governor, and a dispute between residents in Vieques and the U.S. Navy about a target range there led to hard feelings.